Posts Tagged ‘Checklists’.

It's nearly impossible to provide an accurate quote to a prospective web design client without first gathering information about what that particular client needs. Some designers do this in either a face-to-face meeting or over the phone, but more often, they have a questionnaire that prospective clients fill out. This is preferable for a couple of reasons, but the most important is probably that this document then becomes an integral part of the design process and is available to refer back to along the way.

So the question is whether you should put that questionnaire up on your website, or only send it to prospective clients once they've contacted you. There are a couple of reasons you may want to make it available online, but the obvious one is that clients are often eager to get started with their projects and so by providing the questionnaire online, this eliminates a step in the pre-contract part of the process.

Here, we've collected questionnaires and worksheets used by actual web design companies, including some of the leaders in the industry. There are both online and downloadable forms included, as well as the pros and cons for each format.

One thing that can be said about human beings is that we are, by and large, creatures of habit. We establish routines, consciously and subconsciously, that help us accomplish tasks or move us more quickly or comfortably through our day. Habits are formed in the design and development community just as they are in nearly every other professional and personal environment, and they serve any number of purposes. In design and development circles, one established habit is seen with the launch of a website or project.

Naturally, each of us has developed a process that we engage in as we wrap up a project, but a few procedures tend to be used over and over again by the masses. We know this because we ran a poll on this very topic on Twitter. We got many great responses, but the community tends towards a few common practices. We could see as we looked through the list of entries that certain wrap procedures seem to have mass appeal (judging by the number of times they were given as answers), so we began to examine the benefits they offered and what they say about those who fall back on them.

Designing websites can be a long and complicated process. Dealing with clients, designing prototypes, coding, programming, and testing – there's a lot to keep track of and a lot to make sure gets done. That's where checklists can make your life a whole lot easier. With lists of points covering multiple areas from content to usability to accessibility to standards, you're a lot less likely to overlook important parts of a site.

Below are 45 checklists to make your design process easier and more organized. Consider using these checklists as a jumping off point for creating your own customized list, based on your own needs.

Your website is designed, the CMS works, content has been added and the client is happy. It’s time to take the website live. Or is it? When launching a website, you can often forget a number of things in your eagerness to make it live, so it’s useful to have a checklist to look through as you make your final touches and before you announce your website to the world.

This article reviews some important and necessary checks that web-sites should be checked against before the official launch — little details are often forgotten or ignored, but – if done in time – may sum up to an overall greater user experience and avoid unnecessary costs after the official site release.

A favicon brands the tab or window in which your website is open in the user’s browser. It is also saved with the bookmark so that users can easily identify pages from your website. Some browsers pick up the favicon if you save it in your root directory as favicon.ico, but to be sure it’s picked up all the time, include the following in your head.

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